FATE OF A WOMAN'S HOTEL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 59, 3 April 1907, Page 4

FATE OF A WOMAN'S HOTEL.

The experiment initiated in Xew York four years ago of running a big hotel by and for women has proved a tragic failure. The Martha Washington, as the gigantic hostelry was chistcncd, never paid a farthing in return for the money invested in it by such wcilmeaning reformers as Mr. J. 1). Rockelellcr, Mrs. Russell Sage, and Miss He!?a Could. Many times the paying guests, among whom the spirit of harmony did not reign, threatened to strike and q i'; the hotel in a body as a token of indignant discontent at the treatment extended to ihcin. Mitters came to a head at Chris ;- mastide, and inmates of the unioue establishment presented to a meeting of shareholders an exact type-written statement of their grievances. The following are the chief counts in the general irdictin-nt:— "That wine jelly hna not betu served for Christmas, and has been refused I'm the New Year's dinner; tliat Edith Wharton's famous nevel, 'The House of Mirth,' has been excluded from the hotel library; that only tiny pieces of pie f.re served; that rolls are charged to ten cents Isd) extra; that the steward owns an automobile, and is a relatiie of the hotel manager; tluit the be id waitress is too fat, and the bouse detective too ir.cpiisiti-.-e." The defence of the manager gave rise to a most bitter debate and seines worthy of Bedlam. He answered tharg. s seriatum thus: "'.Vine jelly was not served because (he Martbt Washington is a temperance house. The 'House of Mirth' was excluded because it is immoral.as is sho;vn by the fact that the heroine smoked cigarettes. Rolls are charged extra because, if given free, the guests breakfast on them alone. The steward does not own an automobile, the head waitress is efficient in spite of her proportions, and the house detective is necessary to investigate the disappearance of hotel property." The Martha Washington is to be leased out at the earliest opportunity as an ordinary hotel.